No Strike Clause for Boeing?
11 August 2009 | By joe-kgmi in UncategorizedIf Boeing and the machinists union negotiate in good faith and reach an agreement on a no-strike clause, fine. But for Boeing to insist on it under a threat to open another 787 production line in a different state is just plain wrong.
Boeing’s CEO has said that the company and the unions must set a new, more cooperative tone - and that makes sense. But basically demanding that the unions completely “disarm” is not a step in that direction.
Business is a two-way street. Management can’t see labor as an enemy and vice versa. And the right should stop blaming workers for the failures of businesses they work for.
13 August 2009 | Nichol Said:
I have long wondered why the Big-Wigs get such great pay and benefits when it is the workers who make the product and thus keep a business afloat. I understand the history and need of unions but not so much right now. How much is enough and are you willing to make a sacrifice to keep the company going? I also wonder, Joe, do you resent your bosses for their big pay and benefits or do you feel appreciated? I have mostly worked for local owners who respect a good employee in the service industry. Then went to work in health care for big corporations ans see the big cars and their wine colections as we employees work for minimum pay. We care for the patients and also keep business going or not going by word of mouth. Boeing has a right to ask and the union has a right to say no and Boeing has a right to move if this does not meet their needs. What bothers me more is that there are union employees working for government that my taxes pay and they hold us all hostage. So no Boeing threatening their union workers and no union employees threatening tax payers
Is that fair???????
14 August 2009 | Nate M. Said:
Back before our great nation had OSHA, child labor laws and other basic labor laws to protect the American worker from unscrupulous employers, forming a union was the worker’s ONLY form of protection from a bad employer. Unions and union members through their strength in numbers were able to force employers to basically treat them fairly and ensure that there were basic safety steps to protect the lives of workers. Since there were no real laws at the time, unions were it; they had a real purpose and helped workers be treated fairly.
Fast forward 80+ years and there are entire books filled with labor laws covering virtually every part of employment from safety and pay, to sexual harassment, whistle-blower’s protection and beyond. In that 80+ years, 3+ generations of workers and employers have grown-up and neither side can legally get away with the way things were done 80 years ago. And I would challenge anyone to find one person who would like to go back to the way things used to be. As a country we have had a collective attitude change regarding employers rights and worker’s rights.
With all that in mind, as the laws came on board and basic attitudes changed, the unions just kept getting bigger and really became self serving. They stopped protecting the workers from bad bosses and shifted to power consolidation under the guise of helping the workers”. Little by little they chipped away at the employers (this is what happened in the auto industry). No single concession was really huge at the bargaining table, but when you add them all up over the years, you end up with businesses that have so much overhead and administration costs due to “benefits” that they can no longer compete at the same level with their competitors. Have a recession with a drop in sales and the company is done. No employees, no pay and no benefits.
Labor unions have become parasitic to many of the businesses out there. Boeing is in the business of making a profit; PERIOD. No profit, no Boeing. It’s that simple. Boeing has every right to tell it’s employees and union members that if they don’t get the union under control, that they will move the company to a “right to work” state like N.C. I think most folks would be shocked to find out just now much the unions cost employers like Boeing every month compared to non-union employees.
IMHO, if you have a job in this great nation, you should feel fortunate to have one, not . The fact that you can be fired for poor work ensures high quality work from employees.
Unions in America were at one time a VERY useful thing and fueled the need for passage of labor laws that protect both workers and employers alike. Unfortunately, as with all parties or people who attain power over others, they were corrupted by their own greed for power and became self-serving.
25 August 2009 | Nichol Said:
I could not have said it better and wish this was a letter to the editor for all to read. I would also say that the time of Unions for government employees is not right either. We pay their salary and health insurance and retirement benefits and they can threaten to go on strike. This too should be in the past as we are controled and held hostage by these Union members.
I agree that I am lucky to have a job and grateful but if my employer needed to make changes to make a profit then so be it. You are right in that no profit no company and maybe no bail out. Check the car companies.
12 September 2009 | BarnCat Said:
Love how big business, once it’s denied it’s option to use and abuse it’s employees however they please, just pouts and takes their ball elsewhere to play. Probably in hopes they’ll find someplace else that they can get away with getting more work paid out of less paid workers.
Just to Have work during These times Is fortunate Yes, but is No reason to Have to take it up the. Ask anyone who knows the Real deal of why recent Productivity’s on the rise.
Businesses are surfing the low tide of less employment opportunities on the backs of those who’re trading their dreams and dignities for downgraded dollars.
Anyone who thinks Workers better have no rights isn’t in the right line of work to know better.
28 October 2009 | Nate M. Said:
BarnCat; Find me a worker from Boeing who is used and abused by the company. . . forced to work beyond 40 hours a week for no more pay. . . This isn’t the early 1920s. Workers do have rights and there are volumes of laws protecting the rights of workers. Face it, the unions are self serving now. They go shop for political power through campaign donations to primarily left-wing candidates.
If the news today is not more proof of the over-powering of unions to the employer, then you are hopeless. WA state just lost Boeing’s second 787 line to (drum roll please). . .S. Carolina, a “right to work state” where the union can’t interfere with business. I predict that within 10 years, Boeing will move a sizable chunk of their lines there too. I highly doubt that there will be one Boeing executive whipping the workers and forcing them to work 80 hour weeks because they don’t have any union “representation”.
The way you talk, it’s a miracle ANY business can run w/out unions. . . I, on the other-hand believe that most unions should just go away because they are killing business!
15 November 2009 | AKH Said:
Again Joe is 100% wrong, Good job Boeing it’s about time you showed your workers and this pathetic state whos BOSS! Their is nothing good at all with unions anymore, the time and place for them has long passed and now all they do is hurt workers, businesses, economies while lining the pockets of the people running them. Wa. State is on the verge of collapse, when Microsoft and boeing pullout like they will soon do, this liberal run state will collapse (It already is). So sell your home to some dumb lib before it’s worth nothing and move to a state that is in the black and promising to not take obama dollars so Democrats cannot control and manipulate you. Maybe follow Boeing I hear they pay good now the union is out of the picture.